Editors ́ Picks

700 presumed dead in the Med - urgent EU action required

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

Three boats carrying migrants across the Mediterranean have been shipwrecked in recent days, with 700 people presumed dead.

The few survivors of the worst incident told police that when those on board objected to being transfered to a second boat which looked even less seaworthy than the first, smugglers responded by ramming the boat, sabotaging the journey.

While an investigation from both police and the International Organisation for Migration must certainly take place, it is not enough to simply reduce these incidents to crimes.

“Many factors feed into boat migration,” writes Judith Sunderland at Human Rights Watch. “… fear of persecution in Eritrea, dying under bombs in Syria and Gaza, drought and lawlessness in Somalia, poverty and conflict in South Sudan, and similar causes in scores of other places.

“The lies and threats of traffickers, the breakdown of societies, and the economic disparities can seem impossible to tackle in a meaningful, humane way. But here are two concrete ways the European Union can reduce the odds of another tragedy at sea.”

The first she names is that the EU must create safer legal ways for asylum seekers to reach Europe – by seeking protection through official means rather than attempting dangerous sea crossings.

“To date, EU policies have focused largely on enforcing borders – keeping people out – rather than ensuring access to safety for those who need it. The EU Home Affairs Commissioner asked the member states in July to consider humanitarian visas or allow asylum applications in third countries. Both ideas merit adoption.”

Sunderland also urges the EU not to downgrade its rescue efforts in the Mediterranean. ” The Italian Navy operation Mare Nostrum, launched last October after two deadly shipwrecks, has brought tens of thousands of people safely to Italian shores. Critics say the operation has encouraged boat migration, yet more than half of those who have made the journey are fleeing human rights abuse in Eritrea and war in Syria. The prospect that Mare Nostrum will be replaced soon by “Frontex Plus,” a far more limited operation by the EU’s border agency, raises the specter of a rising death toll (already at nearly 3,000 so far this year).”

“Going after the criminals directly responsible for hundreds of deaths is important. Changing EU policies to prevent thousands more is vital.”

16.Sep

September 16th, 2014

Turkey became a recruitment hub for ISIS

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

With Turkey's refusal to join US efforts to form a core coalition of 10 countries fighting ISIS the Wall Street Journal declared Turkey as a "non-ally" to the US. Last Thursday Turkish government further declined to sign a communiqué that committed a number of regional states to take “appropriate” measures to counter ISIS.

Turkey's open border policy since the early phase of the Syrian civil war provided a silent support to the rise of ISIS. While a large number of foreign fighters, including some from Europe and the United States, have joined ISIS, "one of the biggest source of recruits is neighboring Turkey, a NATO member with an undercurrent of Islamist discontent." reports the New York Times.

The newspaper further quotes Aaron Stein, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank: “There are clearly recruitment centers being set up in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey, but the government doesn’t seem to care."

According to NYT author Ceylan Yenginsu, districts like Haci Bayram in Ankara, providing up to 100 fighters, have become ISIS recruitment hubs over the past year. Just there, in Haci Bayram Veli Mosque, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, prayed together in August.

15.Sep

September 15th, 2014

South Sudan: a multimedia documentary

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

A moving multimedia documentary on South Sudan has been produced by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, along with Messengers of Humanity.

The documentary reveals many human layers of the man-made catastrophe still playing out in Sudan, charting the displacement of almost two million people to the current threat of widespread famine.

Take a look at the documentary and consider joining Messengers of Humanity, a community of global advocates using social media to highlight humanitarian crises.

13.Sep

September 13th, 2014

The Rooms of Horror in Badush Prison

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

Pakhshan Zangana, Head of High Council of Women Affairs of the Kurdish Regional Government, reports that about 700 Kurdish Yazidi women have been kidnapped by ISIS.

Women who have run away from ISIS’s prison and the families of those still held captive have come to Pakhshan Zangana for help. Zangana is trying to bring attention to the women’s plight and plead for intervention on their behalf but fears that her efforts have stalled. “We have women and families calling in every day, the situation is getting desperate,” said Zangana to The Daily Beast. Without outside aid, Zangana has turned to asking for private donations to try to buy the captured Yazidi women back from ISIS before they are sold into sexual slavery.

Mosul’s Badush prison, where the women are enslaved, is used to hold captured women as sex slaves, according to multiple reports, before trafficking them to third parties. Among these women there are also members of other minority groups, like Turkomans and Christians.

A 17 year old Yazidi girl captured by ISIS has revealed to La Repubblica newspaper the extreme abuse she suffers as a sex slave at the hands of the extremists. She describes how the women and girls are kept in three “rooms of horror” where the women are raped, often by different men and throughout the day. “They treat us like slaves. We are always ‘given’ to different men. Some arrive straight from Syria,” she says.

"This is not just a Kurdish or Iraqi problem, this is an international crisis.” Survivors believe that ISIS incorporates fighters from all over the world. “The women calling are telling us that many of these men hail from Chechnya,” others seem to be “British and Dutch nationals”, Zangana told The Daily Beast.

Note: We couldn't find any specific link for donations yet, but we've inquired further information from the High Council of Women Affairs of the Kurdish Regional Government. If you would like to go to their website, please click here.

12.Sep

September 12th, 2014

Rift between China and Hong Kong widens

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

Last week China announced it would not permit open nominations for the post of Hong Kong chief executive next time it comes up for renewal in 2017, breaking the deal made with the UK when the city state was returned to China in 1997.

Back then, Hong Kong was given back to China under the condition that it would retain its own way of life for the next 50 years.

Well, it's not 2047 yet, but already China appears to be breaking the international treaty and Hong Kong's constitution by limiting the people's ability to make decisions about their governance.

It appears the timeline is being accelerated, forcing citizens to consider what reintegration into China's system might mean, especially it it comes sooner than expected.

Hong Kong's citizens already have some experience with having their chief executives chosen for them, both times creating tensions over the control Beijing was assuming by selecting Hong Kong's leaders on their behalf.

Protestors against this level of control have been out in force in recent months, but pro-Beijing demonstrators have hit the streets too, raising questions over the authenticity of protests with a propaganda machine appearing to be at work behind the scenes.

11.Sep

September 11th, 2014

If the EU is not prepared to defend its rights values at home, how can it credibly do so abroad?

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

According to Human Rights Watch a dozen police officers raided the offices of Ökotárs and Demnet - two nongovernmental organizations in Budapest operating with foreign donor money allocated to civil society organizations in Hungary - on Monday morning.

The incident - not unusual for authoritarian and nationalistic regimes - is only the latest in the Hungarian government’s assault on civil society.

The roots of this current development can be traced in an extraordinary speech delivered July 26 before an ethnic Hungarian audience in neighboring Romania by Mr. Orban. There, he proclaimed his intention to turn Hungary, a member of both NATO and the European Union, into a state that “will undertake the odium of expressing that in character it is not of liberal nature.” Citing Singapore, China, India, Turkey and Russia as models, Mr. Orban underlined his intention to "to abandon liberal methods and principles of organizing a society, as well as the liberal way to look at the world.”

What Mr. Orban portrays as a new, post-crisis political model The Washington Post compares authoritarian nationalism practiced by "thugs and charlatans throughout the 20th century — including Hungary’s pro-Nazi World War II regime."

The significant difference however is that Hungary walks towards further illiberalism while remaining a member in good standing of the European Union. It's overdue for E.U. leaders to react and "move quickly to disabuse Mr. Orban of that conceit" says the Washington Post. "The union, which has promised Hungary $20 billion in aid over the next seven years, must make clear that member nations cannot reap the benefits of membership while violating their treaty commitments to freedom of expression and the rule of law."

Mr. Orban has excluded himself from the democratic principles of the European Union, and thus he and his government should be treated accordingly. Otherwise, if the EU is not prepared to defend its rights values at home, how can it credibly do so abroad?

10.Sep

September 10th, 2014

Crackdown on Indian people's movement

EDITOR:

fairplanet

Greenpeace is urging people to sign a petition to stop a crackdown in Mahan, India, on those protesting the building of a mine which will destroy a forest and key element of their livelihood.

With the Supreme Court of India having ruled on Monday that every single coal reserve allocated for mining in India between 1993 and 2010 is illegal, something is surely afoot.

More from Greenpeace:

"It’s reported that Essar’s mining project expected to result in felling of about 400,000 trees. And while the community should have a say in this according to Indian law, via a democratic process called a Gram Sabha, they are facing many hurdles.

The district authorities, who promised to hold a Gram Sabha before August 22nd, keep postponing it.

The people of Mahan have no idea when or if they will be able to give their opinion on a project that will affect many aspects of their lives.

In a shocking case of intimidation two Greenpeace India activists were arrested just after midnight on July 30 near Mahan, India. Police entered the guesthouse where the activists were staying without search and arrest warrants.

According to Greenpeace India, the police also seized all communication equipment from the Greenpeace India office and solar panels from Amelia village nearby. This is believed to be part of a move by police and government officials in India to crack down on people who are standing up and opposing a massive coal mine in Mahan.

The activists have been released on bail but the intimidation continues. Now a smear campaign has started, attempting to paint Greenpeace India, an organisation with non-violence at its core, as advocating the use of force against the police. A claim that is absolutely false.

These attempts to silence and isolate Greenpeace India, an organisation working with the people of Mahan to save the forest, their homes, and their livelihoods are outrageous."

Oxfam calls international community for a fairer deal for Syrian refugees

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

Currently, millions of refugees are suffering a similar destiny like Iyad and Nawal and their family. Oxfam reports that they "fled Syria after two of their children – Farah and Imad – were injured by a cluster bomb. With shrapnel still embedded in Farah and Imad’s legs, the whole family fled Syria and were sleeping rough without food or clean water in northern Lebanon when Oxfam staff met them. They were wearing wet clothes and had no money to buy nappies for their youngest baby."

This is the devastating reality of Syrian refugees – a reality that the international community must not turn its back on.

According to Oxfam the number of people killed, displaced or in desperate need of assistance continues to rise: "With 3 million refugees, 6.5 million people displaced inside Syria and 190,000 people killed, the crisis is posing a serious risk to the security and stability of neighboring countries."

However, the international community still lacks of specific and increased commitments that would to help alleviate the suffering. Oxfam demands

- to fully fund the aid response, - to offer refugees resettlement, and- to halt the transfer of arms and ammunition.

In its brief Oxfam has developed key indicators in each of these areas, to show how far the international community is falling short of what is needed.

When even China decides it's time to open a carbon market, countries left behind can no longer deny climate change.

So says a piece published on Mother Jones last week, on the world's largest carbon polluter preparing to have a cap-and-trade program ready as soon as 2016.

The massive nationwide program will be market-based, where total emissions are calculated and capped and companies are issued emissions permits. If their emissions exceed their permitted amount, they must buy more permits or reduce emissions.

Putting a price on carbon emissions is considered by experts as one of the best ways to cut them.

China now buys more crude oil from the Middle East than the US, and this is set to have a big impact on geopolitics in the region.

Today China imports around 5.6 million barrels per day, with about half of that coming from the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, the US imports about 5 million barrels today, and is steadily reducing how much comes from the Gulf - currently about 41 percent. The US's oil imports increasingly come from Canada and Mexico.

Papers from the Brookings Institution say this shift is set to change-up geopolitical pressures around the world:

"American strategists, meanwhile, may be tempted to fulfill Chinese fears and use energy as a source of pressure on its most significant rival. Others will see an opportunity to disengage from the Middle East during a period of fiscal austerity, leaving Beijing and Delhi to take responsibility for the troubled region."